“Sorry, I don’t know how to get past the protocol for this particular credit card, as the system is down and a decision on approval will take a couple of weeks anyway”
There are more than a few things wrong with this statement. Or put more accurately, there are a few things wrong with an organisation that forces its people to mention this statement. Lets analyse in a little detail.
I’ve used icebergs to discuss this before – the concept of End User Customer Experience and Business System Customer Experience. Here is another analogy – you can tell I just daydream and doodle during meetings can’t you.
Lets look at the technical structures of an organisation and how they impact customer experience. My analogy here is currently beneath your feet.
The customers are currently interfacing with the surface of your company, in either a digital or physical sense, or in fact both. They may be on their mobile phones, tapping away at an app, they may be in a branch talking through a brochure with a banker, or they may be looking at some forms with a mobile banker, about to get a mortgage.
Its the policies, processes and protocols next that influence the actions you can take with the channels you’re dealing with. What is the requirements of you and the bank to move forward – are they stringent and arduous, or easy and smooth? is there a mountain of process steps and hand-offs or can one person do it all on the spot?
The products themselves may influence this, as all products are different. For example, many simple term deposits with low risk have online fulfillment and verification of the customer, whereas larger more ‘risky’ products like mortgages or complex debt arrangements obviously require greater checking. The reason why this requires human involvement is generally related to the last element more than risk management.
The platform on which an organisation operates is the key foundation to customer experience management that is sustainable and scalable. Can your organisation create the products it needs to sell, using the policies, processes and protocols it needs to make decisions, accessible through digital and physical channels the customer prefers?
How are you tackling these dimensions in a customer experience delivery framework?
How are you maintaining the grass your customers walk on, and the layers of soil underneath it that feeds the customer experience?
